A former Rutgers University student who was convicted of 'bias intimidation' after using a webcam to view his roommate and another man kissing days before the roommate killed himself was sentenced to only 30 days in jail today.

A judge gave 20-year-old Dharun Ravi a 30-day jail term and probation and said he would not recommend Ravi be deported to India, where he was born and remains a citizen.

He had been facing both deportation and up to ten years in prison after being convicted on 15 counts against him which included invasion of privacy and anti-gay intimidation against Tyler Clementi.

He was also sentenced to three years’ probation, 300 hours of community service, counseling about cyberbullying and alternate lifestyles and a $10,000 probation fee.

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Emotion: Dharun Ravi wipes a tear from his eye as his mother, Sabitha Ravi, right, reads a statement during a sentencing hearing for his conviction where she tells the court he was 'broken into pieces' by the trial

Grief: Jane Clementi right, mother of Tyler Clementi, weeps next to her husband, Joseph, in the audience during sentencing

Waiting his fate: Dharun Ravi appears in court to hear what sentence the judge will hand down to him after he was convicted on 15 counts in March

Court: Dharun Ravi, center, listens to a court officer with his attorneys Philip Nettl, left, and Steve Altman, during his sentencing in New Brunswick, New Jersey today where he was sentenced to 30 days in jail

Family support: Dharun Ravi hugs his mother, Sabitha Ravi, after she reads out a statement to the court and imploring the judge to go easy on her son

The light sentence surprised many in the court as it came after Judge Glenn Berman chastised him for his behavior.

BIAS INTIMIDATION - A HATE CRIME

Ravi wasn't charged with causing Clementi's suicide and any talk of it was generally avoided during the trial.

But prosecutors hit him with a 15-count indictment with a jury returning a guilty verdict on all counts, including invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence and bias intimidation, essentially a hate crime.

The facts of the case were rarely in dispute. Ravi's Twitter post, text messages he sent to Clementi, and Clementi's complaints about Ravi sent to school housing officials gave a detailed picture of what happened.

Instead, the trial became a battle over the interpretation of those events. The defense attempted to portray Ravi as a tolerant person who showed bad judgment, but not as someone who was biased against gay men and women.

In 1999, hate crimes became a criminal offense in the United States and federal prosecution became possible for hate crimes committed on the basis of a person's race, religion, or nation origin when engaging in a federally protected activity.

In 2009, the Matthew Shepard Act added actual or perceived gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability to the federal definition, and dropped the prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally-protected activity.

'You lied to your roommate who placed his trust in you without any conditions, and you violated it,' he said. 'I haven’t heard you apologize once.'

Prosecutors - who hoped the judge would only sentence him to community service - were angry and announced they would appeal.

The case began in September 2010 when Ravi's randomly assigned freshman-year roommate asked Ravi to stay away so he and a guest could have privacy.

Ravi went to a friend's room and turned on his webcam remotely. Jurors at his trial earlier this year heard that he and the friend saw just seconds of Clementi kissing the guest, who was identified in court only by the initials M.B.

When Tyler, an 18-year-old violinist from Ridgewood, asked for privacy again two days later, Ravi agreed - then told friends how they could access his webcam.

But this time, the webcam was not on when M.B. came over. There was testimony both that Clementi unplugged it and that Ravi himself put it to sleep.

The next night, Tyler jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge. Jurors learned that he checked Ravi's Twitter feed repeatedly before his suicide.

Tyler Clementi's father told a judge today that the former Rutgers student deserved more punishment.

According to ABC News, Joe Clementi said Ravi saw his son as undeserving of basic human decency, and that he saw him as below him because he was gay.

He said Ravi 'still does not get it' and has no remorse.

He told the judge: 'One of Tyler's last actions was to check Ravi's Twitter page' noting that his son checked his roommate's Twitter page 37 times before leaving the Rutgers campus and driving to the George Washington Bridge where he jumped to his death.

Tragic end: Rutgers student Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge in 2010 after webcam footage showing he and another man kissing circulated the internet

Jane Clementi is comforted by a family member: She told the court her world fell apart on the day she found out about her son's death and the pain and anguish he went through in his final days

Sad: Tyler Clementi's parents react as the judge sentences Dharun Ravi to 30 days in jail, despite his father Joseph telling him Ravi showed 'no remorse' for what he did to his son

Concerned father: Dharun Ravi's parents listen as their son is sentenced to spend 30 days in jail

Ravi's lawyer, Steven Altman, said his client has been 'demonized by the gay community' and the case 'is being tried and is being treated as if it's a murder case.'

Ravi's parents also addressed the judge before sentencing.

His mother sobbed through a statement in which she implored the judge to go easy on her son.

'The media misconstrued the facts to the public and misconceptions were formed,' she said, adding that she watched helplessly as her son sank into despair after he was charged, barely eating while trying to take online courses from home.

'He was absolutely devastated and broken into pieces.'

Both families sat through nearly every minute of Ravi's four-week-long trial, where he was convicted in March of 15 criminal charges including invasion of privacy and tampering with evidence.

And both appeared in public forums last week just before Ravi was to be sentenced for his deeds.

Steven Goldstein, the chairman of Garden State Equality, a prominent New Jersey gay-rights group, spoke to the New York Timesabout his disappointment over the case: 'We have opposed throwing the book at Dharun Ravi.

But we have similarly rejected the other extreme, that Ravi should have gotten no jail time at all, and today’s sentencing is closer to that extreme than the other. This was not merely a childhood prank gone awry. This was not a crime without bias.'

The case has turned both Clementi and Ravi, who for just three weeks shared a Rutgers University dorm room they were randomly assigned, into widely known symbols.

Textual evidence: Ravi's friend from high school Michelle Huang testified during the trial saying that he told her that he was planning to host a 'viewing party' for the second time that Mr Clementi asked for the room

Clementi is seen as an example of what can happen to young gays who are too often bullied even as acceptance of gays has increased.

After the suicide, gay-rights and anti-bullying activists held him up as an example of the horrible consequences of bullying young gays. Even President Barack Obama spoke about the tragedy.

Ravi has been portrayed as a young man victimized by overzealous prosecutors who reacted to a tragedy by piling on charges.

Prosecutors offered Ravi a plea deal that called for no prison time but would have forced him to admit to committing six different crimes. He turned it down.

In their choices of where to appear, each couple has supported the symbolic perception of its own son.

Vacation time: James, left, Tyler and middle brother Brian Clementi, right, on holiday together as a family

The courtroom filled entirely with family and supporters of Ravi and Clementi.

As the court proceedings began, Judge Glenn Berman held up an inches-thick folder of letters he'd received from the public about the case and pointed to a box containing petitions that were sent to President Barack Obama and Gov Christ Christie requesting a pardon.

He reminded the parties that because it's a state matter, the president has no say in it.

Ravi's lawyer, Steven Altman read part of a pre-sentence report in which a probation officer suggested Ravi be sentenced to community service, not prison.

'This officer appreciates the media scrutiny,' the officer wrote. 'His name will forever be linked to the unfortunate death of Tyler Clementi and/or cyberbullying.'

Several hundred supporters rallied at New Jersey's State House last week to denounce the way the state's hate-crime laws were being used on someone they said was not hateful.

They were hoping Ravi would not be sent to prison and that the law could be changed so that someone in his situation again would not be found to have committed a hate crime.

Video: Judge passes sentence

THE TRAGIC TALE OF TYLER CLEMENTI: TIMELINE OF EVENTS

August 25, 2010: Three days before classes start, Clementi comes out to his parents

August 28, 2010: Ravi and Clementi move into Room 30 of Davidson Hall

September 16, 2010: Clementi, who has been speaking with a man in his 20s on a gay social networking site, invites the man – known only as ‘M.B.’ - over to his dorm

September 19, 2010: Clementi expects M.B. to visit again and requests the room to himself

9:00pm Ravi enters the room, apparently unaware that Clementi wanted the room for the entire evening

9:13pm Ravi goes across the hall to fellow student Molly Wei’s room, and uses her computer to access iChat on his own laptop

9:17pm Ravi posts to Twitter: ‘Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.’ Wei texts her boyfriend: ‘He’s NICE but he’s kissing aguy right now / like THEY WERE GROPING EACH OTHER EWW.’

September 21, 2010: Clementi posts on a gay discussion forum: ‘I feel like the only thing the schoolmight do is find me another roommate, probably with me moving out…and I’d probably just end up with somebody worse than him.’ He requests a room change. M.B. comes over later that evening.

Meanwhile, Ravi told a former high school friend to connect to his computer through iChat saying: ‘People are having a viewing party.’

September 22, 2010: After sending a formal letter to Rutger’s resident advisor, Clementi boards a bus bound for New York City.

8:42pm Clementi posts to Facebook: ‘Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.’

8:47pm Ravi texts Clementi: ‘I’m sorry if you heard something distorted and disturbing but I assure you all my actions were good natured.’ Followed through with text that said: ‘I don’t want your freshman year to be ruined by a petty misunderstanding, it’s adding to my guilt.’

September 28, 2010: Ravi and Wei are charged with invasion of privacy for September 19 webcam viewing, and Ravi alone for the 21st

September 29, 2010: Clementi’s body recovered from the Hudson River

His suicide is a major catalyst of the'It Gets Better'campaign, a series of YouTube videos started by DanSavage and partner Terry Miller telling LBGT teens that there is hope from bullying.